Jefferies Financial Group Raises Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) Price Target to $118.00

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) had its price target raised by Jefferies Financial Group from $95.00 to $118.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price target suggests a potential upside of 37.87% from the company’s current price.

PTGX has been the subject of a number of other reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 24th. HC Wainwright lifted their price objective on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from $80.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Protagonist Therapeutics from $88.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Citigroup raised their target price on Protagonist Therapeutics from $98.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 8th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on Protagonist Therapeutics from $88.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Protagonist Therapeutics has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $91.64.

Protagonist Therapeutics Trading Up 3.1%

PTGX opened at $85.59 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $86.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $73.35. Protagonist Therapeutics has a 1 year low of $33.70 and a 1 year high of $96.54. The stock has a market cap of $5.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 138.05 and a beta of 2.26.

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.62) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.59) by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $4.71 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.41 million. Protagonist Therapeutics had a return on equity of 6.86% and a net margin of 21.94%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Protagonist Therapeutics will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Arturo Md Molina sold 13,151 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.42, for a total transaction of $1,083,905.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 84,115 shares in the company, valued at $6,932,758.30. This represents a 13.52% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Dinesh V. Ph D. Patel sold 34,438 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.48, for a total transaction of $2,840,446.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 580,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,880,052.40. This trade represents a 5.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 165,167 shares of company stock valued at $13,732,039 in the last three months. Company insiders own 4.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Protagonist Therapeutics

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PTGX. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Protagonist Therapeutics by 27.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,413,690 shares of the company’s stock valued at $472,832,000 after acquiring an additional 1,156,461 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics during the third quarter valued at approximately $72,114,000. Commodore Capital LP bought a new stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics during the second quarter valued at approximately $59,415,000. UBS Group AG raised its stake in shares of Protagonist Therapeutics by 46.1% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 2,770,021 shares of the company’s stock valued at $241,934,000 after purchasing an additional 874,013 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Protagonist Therapeutics by 83.9% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,908,446 shares of the company’s stock worth $126,778,000 after purchasing an additional 870,708 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.63% of the company’s stock.

About Protagonist Therapeutics

Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc (NASDAQ: PTGX) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel, orally administered peptide-based therapies for immune-mediated and other serious diseases. The company leverages its proprietary Peptide 2.0 platform to design peptides that target G protein–coupled receptors and cytokine receptors, with the goal of combining the potency of biologics with the convenience of oral administration. Protagonist’s approach aims to address unmet medical needs in areas where injectable therapies have been the standard of care.

Among its lead programs is PTG-100, an oral α4β7 integrin antagonist intended to block leukocyte migration to the gut in ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.